Youth CareerConnect

Youth CareerConnect

The Prince George’s County Youth CareerConnect program (PGC-YCCP) is a 4 year STEM education initiative funded by the U.S Department of Labor to provide over 2,500 high school students in Prince George’s County with education and skills training, internships, college prep and dual enrollment, mentoring, and job readiness training to excel in the high growth industries in Healthcare and Information Technology(IT).

Led by Employ Prince George’s, Inc., PGC-YCCP is a collaboration among the Prince George’s County Public Schools, Prince George’s County Community College, The Maryland Center at Bowie State University, Hillside Work Scholarship Connection, the Latin American Youth Center, and two business partners, Lockheed Martin and Dimensions Healthcare Systems.

John Rivers, YCC Business Consultant, provided the following account regarding, Charles G., a YCC intern:

“Denise and I attended the County Executive’s Annual Luncheon last week at Newton White Mansion in Bowie. Charles G. was being recognized as one of the Exceptional Employees who was funded by SYEP this summer.

Charles graduated this spring with a 3.96 grade point average, and after a fall semester at Prince George’s County Community College will be attending the University of Maryland –College Park. Beyond a great grade point average, Charles is leaving Fairmont Heights High School with four industry recognized IT certifications, a Certificate of Special Recognition from Congresswoman Donna Edwards, and multiple science fair awards.

Charles is currently completing his second summer with NASA contractor Stinger-Ghaffarian Technologies, Inc. Charles is really enjoying his experience working for SGT and his attitude and approach to his YCC internship is to be commended. Last summer, Charles utilized his IT skills to perform a variety of administrative tasks. Unsatisfied with the assigned tasks Charles approached his supervisor about developing a Wi-Fi login platform using HTML5 and CSS3 to create a more mobile-friendly login page for Apple and Android mobile devices. This summer, Charles is working on a project that impacts the collection of data that will result from 2018’s expected launch of the ICESat-2 satellite. This satellite will measure ocean levels and, beyond the science, has national security implications. Charles is really taking advantage of his opportunities and running with them!”